View full sizeBruce Ely, The OregonianThe Trail Blazers bench could look different by the time the trade deadline passes.

Nate McMillan was shoved another step closer to the unemployment line on Saturday.

Not because of poor coaching decisions. Not because he didn't have a decent game plan to defend Kevin Love. Not because he doesn't badly want to win, and will do anything it takes.

In fact, very little of Portland's 122-110 loss to Minnesota was the fault of the Trail Blazers coach. Still, the record shows McMillan as Saturday's biggest loser. And be sure, in the end, it's going to be his head on the platter, served up by a faction of selfish and disgruntled Blazers players who don't give a rip.

Said one veteran: "You could spend a day in this locker room and you'd figure it out. Some guys really care. Others just want the season to be over."

Who wants to win? Who wants to stay? Let's make it simple: Can we please see a show of hands?

There are some hardworking players who still want to win. And there are loyal fans who want to see victories because they pay premium prices for tickets. And all of this is being undermined by a snickering, pouting, hollowed-out corner of the locker room that wants nothing more than to play out the final 29 games of this shortened season, collect a paycheck, and then, go on a vacation.

Joel Przybilla was ticked after the game, and bee-lined to the locker room from the bench like a guy thinking, "I came back ... FOR THIS?!?" Gerald Wallace was so angry that he slammed over a large recycling bin in the arena tunnel, out of sight of fans, spilling paper and plastics that had to be picked up by some poor guest services guy in a red vest. Jamal Crawford sat by his locker, with a blank expression, and said, "It gets old."

Players tank a season for a variety of reasons. Said the veteran player: "Who knows why they don't care? Maybe it's because of the shortened season. Maybe it's because they're struggling. Joel (Przybilla) has to be upset that he came into this locker room."

Well, Przybilla?

"I don't think the effort was there in the first quarter," he said, in disbelief. "You can't give up 40 points in your own building. You just can't."

Before Saturday's game, McMillan talked about the variety of ways in which he's trying to motivate his players. He's used video. He's yelled at them. He's practiced them, and given them extended rest. "Every day," he said, "you've got to think about what you need to do to get them ready and motivated."

Did McMillan need all that as a player himself?

"When I came in the locker room, I was motivated."

Marcus Camby's contract is expiring, and Przybilla's arrival combined with Camby's chronic case of lethargy makes him expendable. Raymond Felton, 1 for 9 against Minnesota, has been awful. He's playing a season-long shooting game named: W-O-R-S-E. Thank goodness Felton's contract is expiring. He's tradable because of it. Felton's sidekick, Wallace, has a player option and has been a blossoming problem, too. The Blazers covet the flexibility those contracts might give them this summer, but I fear if they don't make a deal by the March 15 trade deadline, this season is going to totally derail and McMillan's head is going to come clean off with it.

Owner Paul Allen doesn't have a general manager. He's made summer sport of firing the guy in that seat. And I can't see Allen and his entourage sitting around, going, "We just didn't give Nate enough talent." Nope. That's not how the game works. McMillan is busting his chops, trying everything he can, but he's apparently being undermined, and in the end, if the Blazers miss the playoffs, he's toast.

I asked McMillan why he doesn't just confront the players who aren't bringing effort, and go ballistic on them. After all, he's "Sarge," right?

"If I lose it, I lose the whole thing," McMillan said.

So he keeps charging, and hoping. But man, that was some dismal defensive display in the first and fourth quarters against Minnesota. Even the players' wives were buzzing in the hallway after the game, saying things such as, "I can't remember the last time Minnesota beat us."

It was 16 straight, ma'am.

McMillan was slow to emerge from his post-game meeting with his assistants. Media waited, and a team representative had to stick his head in and summon the coach. When McMillan arrived he said of his team responding and suddenly waking up in the second quarter: "We gotta get smacked upside the head."

I vote for more of that, yes.

If Portland misses the playoffs, it would be the most talented lottery team in league history. And Saturday featured another wasted opportunity in which the Blazers allowed Minnesota to score 78 combined points in the first and fourth quarters. Basically, Portland played exactly one-half a game, and then hit the showers.

Aldridge, Batum and Przybilla will all tell you that McMillan is the same coach who averaged nearly 51 regular-season victories between 2008-2011. He's coaching, as usual. Most, but not all, of the team is following. What's obviously absent is Brandon Roy's leadership, which held every corner of the locker room accountable. And while I've wondered, at times, if McMillan is a forever guy in Portland, I can't pin this season on him.

Not his fault.

Not when you have a faction of "professional" basketball players mailing it in while their coach is going nuts trying to fix this.